Study: Two-thirds suffer from nomophobia, fear of losing a phone

London
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A recently published study suggests that a new phobia is one the rise across the globe: nomophobia. Research shows that more and more people fear of being without or losing their mobile device(s). Are you a nomophobic?

Traveling on public transit, heading out to a restaurant or even walking down the street can give one the impression that people absolutely love and are addicted their handsets; maybe a little too much, though.

According to a new study conducted by SecurEnvoy, a company that specializes in digital passwords, using OnePoll, found that 66 percent of employed individuals who have a cellphone are developing nomophobia, the fear of losing or being without a cellphone.

The study was first conducted a few years ago, which showed that 53 percent suffered from this category of phobias. But results from this year’s study also found out several other interesting notes about a person’s cellphone habits.

The survey suggests that 41 percent of respondents have two or more phones. When looking at the demographics, women worry more about losing their cellphones than their male counterparts (70 percent to 61 percent), but 47 percent of men are more likely to have more than one phone compared to 36 percent of women.

“The first study into nomophobia, conducted four years ago, revealed that 53% of people suffered from the condition and our study reveals this has now risen to 66% in the UK and shows no sign of abating,” said Andy Kemshall, CTO and co-founder of SecurEnvoy. “There is another study into mobile phone use that found people check their phones, on average, 34 times a day so it wouldn’t take long for you to realise if you’d misplaced your device.”

When asked if they would be upset if their significant other skimmed through their text messages and other forms of messages, 49 percent said they would be. “What this study does highlight though is the extent that people now rely on their mobile phones,” said Kemshall.

This study comes as another survey investigated the mobile device habits of users. According to a poll by 11Mark, 75 percent of respondents say they have used their phone in the bathroom, while 30 percent of men and 20 percent of women say they won’t go to the washroom unless they have their phone with them.